What kind of kid were you?

I read that Kay Redfield Jamieson and she didn't seem to have much trouble as kid with school. I have also read Stephen Fry childhood which is a bit like mine though I never to jail for fraud.
Most of my report cards read could better, BPA artistic temperament is hampering her marks things like that, daydreaming, walking around the classroom,playing truant. Basically as kid In was inconsistent. I used sneak out to the pub in my teens. I truly don't know how I managed to get uni. I was a PIA. Basically. I stil am an all or nothing person. I have strange feeling I may have had ADHD.
So what were others like as kid. I'm talking from quite young.

I was a troubled kid. Classes with teachers I liked I had A's in other classes I had D's I was chronically high, drunk and tardy. I even tried to hurt a girl in the hall. I spent more time in ISS then in class. Not because I was disrespectful but I would try to get ISS. I left my home the day I was legally allowed. things went to hell. I quite school the day I legally allowed and took the GED the moment I could then went directly to college.

I was a pretty normal I think, until I got to my teens where I did such stupid things I still can't believe I survived to adulthood. I craved excitement and would get it anyhow, even if it meant risking my life or getting arrested. Some classes at school I did well in but most of the time I would truant or be more interested in having a laugh.

I grew up with a alcoholic father, narcissist mother, a sister who was treated like royalty, and a brother who was not safe to be alone with
I learned to be very quiet and blend into the background
I am still very quiet

I was a really quiet kid-read a lot & played outside & was very shy til I was about 16. I was really scared of my Dad because he had a bad temper-still does-& he would just go off for no discernable reason. Once I could drive I started going out a lot & was home as little as possible.

I was a shy and quiet kid. I was even in a speech class because I was so quiet. That only got worse when I had my first bout of depression hit when I was around nine. I remember playing outside with my brother and cousins sometimes, but for the most part I kept to myself. My dad wasn't really around and when I did spend the nights at his place I mostly spent that time with my step mother. My dad was pretty abusive especially to my brother and stepmother. My grandmother did most of my raising since my mother was ill with sickle cell.

Was really good at school, always had my head in a book as a very young kid. I had to my mom is a teacher, education was shoved down our throats. I was shy and bullied when I was young. Had workaholic parents so I took care of my sister. When I hit 15 that's when the BP hit. I never got in trouble though at school or with the law and always kept my grades up. In high school I dressed in black and hung out with the stoners but didn't do the drugs or drinking. My mom terrified me, and threatened me with boot camp if I got in trouble. I managed to keep things under control at school, but not at home.

i was a odd child
i did not care about playing with other kids or not they started the testing then
as a kid i was nice until 10
at 10 i was me if u wanted me to do something u better have a good reason for telling me to do it ....if i did not like it i did not do it ....if i did not like u i tell u and leave the area (so much trouble for doing that )
at age 13 i had my fbi record (live in the country i mean farms with a big pit of cow poop .....wanted to go swimming in the creek and if u have every tried to shovel out clay u know .......so blew a swimming hole .....it is protected watershed land ....so they did not like that)
after that the same until 22 and i did the monk thing

I was an odd sort of child---never really fit in, was inattentive in class unless it was a subject I enjoyed, had depression and times when I just wanted to die and make my mother pay for the way she treated me. She was something of a narcissist, and I think she was probably every bit as bipolar as I am although she would never have gone to a psychiatrist.....according to her, there was no such thing as mental illness.

I got really depressed after my grandmother died when I was 13. I was taken to different doctors and given different kinds of pills, though I don't know what they were, probably some form of antidepressant. One kind made me sleepy, another made me nauseated, still another made me wired. After about a year I got better on my own and actually did very well through the rest of high school. I found a group where I fit in, and my grades got much better. But I was never terribly popular, and I spent a lot of Friday and Saturday nights dateless and at home.

I think I've always been about 15 degrees off "cool". It doesn't matter now because I am growing old and I don't care what people think of me anymore.

I was a pretty ordinary and healthy child. I was picky about food and sensitive to teasing. I read at a young age and did well in school. I was obedient and loved my family. Things started to fall apart at 10 when my parents threw my older silbings out for insubordination. They shattered with the death of my favorite brother when i was 14.

My early childhood was happy and carefree, tho. I am grateful for this time as it was a lot more than some kids got. A lot of the most important human development happens during early childhood, as well. I got a good start on life. If my parents had tolerated my older siblings' behavior i would probably have grown up to be a healthy and happy adult.

Ummmm when I was very young I was outgoing and happy, did well in school and never got in trouble. Dad married the step monster when I was seven and abuse started. After a while isolation and such I was quiet, still good in school but always in trouble with her (part of her manipulation.) I was depressed, VERY anxious and start cutting. I thought it would all go away when I left there at 17 but no. I am happier and outgoing. I got past the bad social anxiety. All that seemed to kick off my bipolar.

I'm noticing a trend in abuse or parents that were also sick, which is very sad and I am sorry you all had to go thru that. It goes to show that the scientific theory is that not only is it genetics but also environmental, at least that is what I believe.

I was just wondering if there was maybe some consistent traits in childhood, but majority seem to be quiet shy as kids.I know environment and parents factors play a role.

I was a happy kid, oldest of five. Closeknit family. Good mother , but stressed. My dad was strict but very loving. I loved to read, color in coloring books, play with plastic army men outside with brother. I played football on an elementary school, fifth grade team. Played little league and pony league baseball, was a pitcher. Did real good in school and had puppy love girlfriends
I fell hard on my head twice in school. Real hard. I always wondered if that had any bearing on my behavior. I started fishing as a kid and that became my passion for many years. My Dad moved us from Savannah, Ga. to a small country town when I was thirteen. That's when things changed with me. I became withdrawn in school and basically didn't talk to anybody. In the tenth grade I had a manic episode where I started talking to people. It started getting a little out of hand and then I plunged into a very bad depression that ended me up in a mental health hospital, the first of many times. I was fourteen years old. I was diagnosed as a very depressed boy. Looking back, I can see where it was the beginning of bipolar behavior.

I was a very well behaved kid and could entertain myself with games and my imagination. I wasn't very athletic. I watched a lot of TV. I loved horses and road mine often.

I was great in school, meaning I was an honor roll student till my senior year of high school. When I came home from school was a different story. All my aggravation from the bullying (for being different who wouldve thought), from not having a group of friends, from keeping my composure because no one needed to see my behaviors in my opinion. I would lash out towards my parents, I could be very rude with a drop of a hat and my parents had difficulties making me do my homework. I have memories of crawling under the kitchen table just saying I couldnt do it. At that age I didnt realize my Concerta (ADD medication) would wear off around 3pm, the time I got off the bus. My mother realized that I just couldnt concentrate and got into the habit of having a cup of coffee ready for me when I got home. It helped quite a bit. I didn't start mood stabilizers till I was 16 years old and at that point being rebellious I didnt like the fact I was on them and I thought it made me weak. I went off my Concerta at the time I started the Lamictal. My psychiatrist didnt want to diagnose me with bipolar disorder she stated it was a mood disorder. I was also on an SSRI (Zoloft) starting at the age of 9 years old. I also saw a social worker and it was a constant struggle with my social worker saying I was over medicated and my psychiatrist stating it was normal behavior. I believe hormones had a big part in the equation. I stopped seeing that psychiatrist at the age of 18 and went off all medications. In college I struggled to the point I had to get done after two years. During that time I tried to go back the combination of medications I was on before (Concerta, Zoloft,) without the mood stablizer (Lamictal). I had trouble keeping friends in college, not because of out lashing I just became antisocial. I also felt overwhelmed with my studies. I was taking 5 courses a semester with work study and a 32 hour job. Luckily I lived with my parents still and my mother told me that I was pushing myself too hard. She also told me that yes a lot of students do this kind of load but with having a mood disorder (which I have now been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder 1) I need to watch myself and take care of myself. When I went thru cosmetology school I had difficulty dealing with the other students. I had a completely different personality than they did and I was there for a different reason ( I wanted to work with people with alopecia and cancer patients). I did not work at that point and put all my focus on school. I was not medicated at this point ( I was 20 years old). I was very successful with grades. I also think very black and white (polarized thinking) so when I didnt do something successfully I would start completely over when it was unnecessary. I was quite hard on myself and I still am. In a way this is showing you can get good grades and such but be struggling on the inside.

I was a child who at times was very awkward when interacting with others. I'm pretty sure I had signs of bipolarity back then, as I got in trouble more than once for misbehavior and whatnot at school, most likely caused by some form of hypomania. As a child, I also could be very moody and sensitive, and had some very tough times with depression.

As a young child I was shy and quiet, not very confident. From early teens I suffered from depression. I was clever, but the depression affected my school work, and I messed up my exams. What gets me, looking back, is how desperately I needed help and how obvious it was, and that no one helped me!

I was a pretty "normal" kid with a very stable and loving household. I did lack confidence and my older brother had a lot of behavior issues until he was in middle school. At 13 I developed and eating disorder and at 17 was hospitalized for depression and suicide attempt.

Looking back I don't notice any signs of bipolar until adult. In my teens I had anorexia and depression and my first few years at college were in a drunken high blur, so all that may have hidden it. Not till my 20s did I notice that my depression would come and go for no reason and once I had kids my random rage started. Also my phases of ideas (I was going to be an artist, a female figure model- ha ha- an artist again, etc etc) I started noticing around age 30.

Since I have the butterfly icon, too, I read this and thought I wrote it!

Adding to the teens and early 20s I self-medicated big time. Anything to relieve the pain and try to control the manias. I feel like I lost years and years of my life by being undiagnosed and out of control. I"m also trying to forget the things I did before I finally found stability.